Guides

An Introduction to Sports Spread Betting – Part 1

By admin [9th December, 2011]

Whether you are a financial spread bettor who also has an interest in sport, or primarily a sports enthusiast who is looking for an alternative to standard fixed odds gambling, sports spread betting could be for you. Indeed, several spread betting companies offer a comprehensive selection of sports markets to compliment their financial offer, the most prominent of them being Sporting Index, Spreadex and Extrabet, the sports wing of IG Index.

The principle of sports spread betting is exactly the same as that of financial â€“ you buy or sell depending on whether you think a certain market is likely to go up or down. However, unlike most financial markets, sports spread betting markets all have a finite running time, whether that be the duration of single horse race, or an entire season of football.

As with traditional fixed odds firms, the sports most extensively covered by spread betting companies are football and horse racing. There are numerous different markets available, some more complicated than others. In football, the most basic market is the Supremacy â€“ the margin, in goals, by which one team is favoured over the other. For example, if Manchester United were thought to be slight favourites over Arsenal, you might see a quote such as 0.1-0.3 Manchester United over Arsenal. If you bought at the ask price of 0.3 for 100 pounds and Manchester United won 1-0, you would win 70 pounds. Other popular markets include Player Goal Minutes â€“ the total number of the minutes at which a player scores in a match. Markets such as this can be quite volatile. If Wayne Rooney were to fail to score in a game, his Player Goal Minutes market would make up at 0. However, if he were to score a hat-trick in the second half, hitting the net in the 60th, 70thÂ and 80thÂ minutes, the market would make up at 210. It is always important therefore to choose your stake carefully.

Horse racingâ€™s primary markets are Race Indices and Matchbets. Race Indices are either of the 50-30-20-10 or 50-25-10 variety depending on the number of runners in the race. 50 points are awarded to the winner of the race and then the lesser amounts to the horses placing. A quote will be available at which to trade based on the expected number of points a horse will gain in the race. Matchbets on the other hand, pit two specific horses against each other, offering a quote on how many lengths one horse is favoured to beat the other by, for example, Arkle over Mill House 2-3.5. This market like many others in sports spread betting though, has a maximum possible make up imposed on it to limit volatility. In this instance, if Arkle were to finish 30 lengths ahead of Mill House in the Gold Cup, all bets would be settled as if he had defeated his rival by only 15 lengths.

There are many diverse markets available to trade on in all sports from boxing to the boat race and, handled with care, it can be both fun and profitable. Be sure to check out the rest of the site for further information.